From the Depths of Hell… / Miriam Celaya

Protests in Spain. Internet photo.

During this past week, the official Cuban media have shown very reliable evidence of how it is possible to use information from international events to mask and to try to dilute conflicts within the Island. There is no doubt that government journalism takes the cake in what I normally call the squid effect: a dark stream of dark ink for slipping away in the midst of the confusion and coming away unscathed. At the same time, it tries to create the false expectation that a reversion to communism in Europe is close at hand and viable. In Spain, no less.

The latest news acquisition by the media to squirt its ink on the national disinformation spectrum has been the demonstrations that have been taking place in several Spanish cities, and the press has instantly launched into its fabrication of an environment supposedly conducive to communism in these expressions of social discontent. Judging by what the written press and TV newscasts are publishing, the popular clamor in Spain is inspired by a spirit between Marxist and anarchist, capable of bringing down Capitalism, Transfiguring the social order and establishing the first labor commune of the XXI century. As simple as that. Of course, it doesn’t show it explicitly, but those are the intentions underlying the reports. A simple example is the “declarations” of one of the protesters expressly interviewed by the newspaper Juventud Rebelde…via e-mail. Could it be that this subject was carrying a sign with his e-mail address, to make things easy to the journalists on this side? Coincidentally, the individual is a Communist sympathizer or militant. The journalists in our national press have such good aim! Thus, the mobilization of Spanish citizens, mostly young, under the legitimate claims of changes capable of reversing the current economic crisis, unemployment, corruption and other ills afflicting the Iberian country, have been converted, by the grace of the official Cuban press, into a revolution ready to destroy Capitalism and establish a system change.

It is no coincidence, then, that the unusual role is being granted to the United Left from the official media, as if it were the party that organized, convened, and sustained the protests in the plazas, and counted on an overwhelming social support. And, in addition, it is an occasion to celebrate! From the logic of journalism at the service of power, movements against Ahmadinejad in Iran, or against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya don’t qualify as real, national, people’s demands, but they are uprisings organized from outside by the West, though the peaceful protests that take place in the heart of a Western democratic society constitute practically a prelude to a legitimate and vindicating Marxist labor revolution by the will of the majority of Spaniards.

Without a doubt, a minority party would do everything possible to seize the day’s critical moment to try to grab a larger share in the current political scene. It is exactly what this United Left seems to be doing. It is clear that many Spaniards are fed up with the crisis and are making use of the advantage of living in a democracy; that is, they are exercising their right to protest, to demonstrate publicly, and to claim what they consider just. That is infinitely more than we Cubans can dream about right now, sunk in the manure of Tropical Communism, so I hope that Spaniards know enough to safeguard those civic spaces they enjoy. I hope that the protesters in the Spanish Squares are able to achieve their goals without waiving their right to demand them whenever they see fit to do so. I hope that the vicissitudes of their long and rich history will allow them to discriminate between the word “change” and its main antonym “communist system”. I have great faith that the country that knew how to develop a remarkable transition after the tensions of a long dictatorship will be able to respect the constitutional order and achieve its aspirations without turning violent its civility, a pillar of liberty that cannot be surrendered. May their crisis be about growth and not regression. These are my best wishes for Spain, from the depths of my communist hell.

At the close: Monday May 23, the results of the regional and autonomic elections were published, and the Partido Popular won. The Cuban media, curiously, have refrained from mentioning where the United Left came in.

Translated by Norma Whiting

May 24 2011